Voices of Concerned Citizens

The following 365 Days of Art pieces are reactions to the military build-up. I just want to take this moment to say that I am not anti-military or anti-American. I am just a concerned citizen who is worried about what the military build-up will bring to the island, and who is hoping that these concerns are addressed properly in the future actions taken.

DAY 18: January 18, 2010

TITLE: WTF!

Medium: Markers

This is another drawing of a butterflyfish in his coral home. He is distressed because they are about to wreck his home to be able to accomodate a nuclear aircraft carrier.This species of butterflyflish is one of the species that will sufffer fatalities due to the planned dredging in Apra Harbor.

DAY 19: January 19, 2010

TITLE: Legend Retold

Medium: Computerized Graphic

Drea asked me to do a computerized graphic of Guam with out the military bases, including a large piece of the northern coast where AAFB is, to be used for an entry on her blog, Waiting for Wonderland.

She wrote:

As a child growing up on Guam, I heard many legends. Some I learned at school and some my parents told me. One legend that has been on my mind this past month, is the legend of thebig fish that ate Guam. You remember the legend, don't you? It explains why Guam is so narrow in the middle. As I was told, many many years ago a very large fish was eating away at our island. Many strong men tried to stop the fish, but none succeeded. At this time, the young women of Guam had beautiful long hair. One day the women decided to weave their hair in to a net. With the net made from their hair the women caught the big fish and saved the land and people from the monstrous fish.

The reason this legend has been on my mind, is because I've been looking at many maps of Guam recently. Yes, our island is narrow in the middle, but I've also noticed that there are many parts of our island that is innaccessible to the people of Guam. It's as if the big fish has returned. This big fish is feasting on the graves of our ancestors and land that is lush and beautiful. Sometimes this big fish spits out the the land, returning it to us, but by that time much of the land is contaminated.

What will our island look like 4 years from now? How much of it will be contaminated by the big fish? Where will we be 20 years from now? Will we be telling our grandchildren the story of the fish that annhilated our island? We must gather together, like the women in the original legend, to defend our home, before there is nothing left to defend."

The map is from 1991.